Wranglers’ comeback falls short against feisty Firebirds at Saddledome

The Wranglers took on the Coachella Valley Firebirds Thursday night at the Saddledome. Coachella Valley won 7-4. (Photo: X@AHLWranglers)

The Coachella Valley Firebirds came out firing Thursday night and built a commanding lead the Calgary Wranglers couldn’t overcome.

After rookie Matvei Gridin scored to knot the game at a goal apiece in the first period, Coachella responded with four unanswered goals to roll up a 5-1 lead.

The Firebirds saw first-period goals from Tyson Jugnauth, Kaden Hammell, Oscar Fisker Molgaard, Jugnauth again and Logan Morrison.

Aydar Suniev scored with 19 seconds remaining to send the Wranglers into the first intermission on a hopeful note, but the Firebirds got another goal from Ty Nelson 3:20 into the second to make it 6-2.

Rory Kerins and Justin Kirkland scored to cut it to 6-4 with over half the game remaining.

In the third, Jacob Melanson scored to make it 7-4 for Coachella Valley and that’s how it ended.

Calgary outshot Coachella Valley 19-7 in the third period but couldn’t score.

On the night, the Wranglers outshot the Firebirds 36-24.

The win by the Firebirds gave them a split in their two-game mini-series against the Wranglers, who won 3-0 Tuesday night.

Next up for Calgary are a pair of weekend games against the Abbotsford Canucks, Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.